Primeval WIP: An Extraordinary Man (37/...)

[talliw]

Title: An Extraordinary Man (37/...)
Author: TalliW
Pairings: Lester/Cutter, Stephen/Lyle, Abby/Connor, Jenny Lewis
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Lyle, Finn and Ditzy belong to Fredbassett.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Fredbassett for beta-reading. I couldn't have done it without you.


"Stephen!"

Nick Cutter looked at the younger man, who tried to hide his red face behind his computer monitor, and got instantly worried.

"Stephen, what's happened?"

"Nothing," Stephen tried to answer nonchalantly but failed miserably.

"Stephen," Cutter repeated, this time in a more severe tone of voice.

"Shower. Me - Lyle, naked," Stephen mumbled.

Nick's eyebrows shot up and he suppressed the need to burst out laughing, his halfway successful attempt ending in a hiccup instead.

"Are you telling me you had sex with Lyle in the shower, here in the ARC? Wow, how adventurous. I'm impressed. How was it?" Cutter asked with a gleam in his eyes.

"Good Lord, Cutter. Do you want it a detailed report or would you prefer the short version?" Stephen snarled. "We didn't actually have sex. Just a mutual handjob which nearly blew my mind. Any more questions?"

Nick grinned. "Hey, don't be so grumpy. As your friend I'm entitled to ask. You know, I'm happy for you, Stephen. At least a few people around here have still a real sex life."

"It looks like Connor might be the next candidate."

Cutter looked at him, scandalised.

"I mean with Abby. Take your mind out of the gutter, Nick. Bloody hell, what ever Ditzy has given you to hold you down, take more of it," Stephen grumped.

"I thought he's still on stage one with Abby."

"That could change quickly. Seems Abby is finally fed up and is going the whole hog. She was flirting like hell with him and went for close contact, all smiles and touches. I don't think Connor even knows what's waiting for him."

"Damn it," Cutter cursed. "We've got to warn him. He mustn't have sex with anyone at the moment or he could end in the same condition as me."

Stephen scrunched his face up. "I had other plans for tonight."

"You really move fast."

"I'm afraid Lyle will come to his senses and drop me again. Once I have him in bed the chances of him running are far smaller. I know he's keen on my body."

"Don't sell yourself short, Stephen. He can get a nice body anywhere. Don't rush it for that reason and don't do something you're not ready for yet."

"But I am ready. I want him."

"Then why can I feel the tension from a distance?"

Stephen Hart ran his hand through his hair. "I want to fuck him. But what if he wants to ... you know... to take me too..."

"Surely you must have thought about that before you started to sway your arse in front of him? Does the thought of being a bottom bother you?"

"No, I just haven't any experience of being on the receiving end. I'm not sure I can come that way."

Nick Cutter bit back a smirk. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that. Just let Lyle take the lead. I'm sure he knows exactly what he has to do to make it good for you too."

Stephen took a deep breath. "Thanks, Nick. That must have been an awkward talk for you."

"Not more awkward than other talks we've had in the past. Like my dad always said: If you can't talk about it then you aren't old enough to do it."

"Sounds like he was a sensible man."

"Yeah, he was. Now go. Your darling Lyle is waiting for you. I'll deal with Connor by myself."

Nick Cutter was on the way down to the ground floor when the Anomaly Detector chimed. The Professor cursed. That was really bad timing.

Together with the other team members he hurried to the van.

The Junior King's School in Sturry, near Canterbury, was a venerable institution in the beautiful landscape of Kent for children from ages four to thirteen.

At this time of day the school grounds were normally quiet. Most of the children were sitting inside to do their homework or attend classes. But today there was some turmoil on the cricket pitch...

The vans came to a screeching holt in the car park near the sports hall.

Getting out of the car within seconds and grasping their riffles was already routine for the teams.

Some minutes later, the Special Forces team stopped at the cricket pitch, closely followed by Abby, Connor and Professor Cutter.

"Could be a baby Shantungosaurus,  Late Cretaceous, herbivore," Connor panted.

Professor Cutter screwed up his eyes against the blinding sun and shook his head.

"I'm afraid it's a Baryonyx, Early Cretaceous, carnivore, not fully grown yet. They can get up to 6 metres long."

"He looks peaceful," Abby said.

Indeed with his slightly goofy look and his body form more similar to a herbivore, he appeared harmless.

The handful of children on the pitch seemed to think the same because now a few were moving closer to the dinosaur.

"Stephen, we have to get the children to safety. The Baryonyx is a fish eater but it's still dangerous. It has sharp teeth like a crocodile and large claws. If it feels threatened it will attack."

The soldiers reacted fast and moved in the direction of the dinosaur and the children.

The Baryonyx stood still and eyed the children carefully. A lanky boy, not older than seven, touched the tail of the dinosaur boldly and grinned when the animal turned his head around hissing angrily.

The other children jeered and the boy repeated his action.

At the moment the soldiers reached the children, it happened. With lightning speed, the Baryonyx whipped its tail and raced forwards, snapping, into the group of children.

Lyle, Finn and Fergusson had managed to pull aside most of the kids.

Babyface had pushed two screaming girls out of the way before the snapping mouth could nab them and Sergeant Damian Willis grasped the cheeky boy who had been struck down by the dinosaurs tail.

Jetrow tried to distract the carnivore from the children whilst Stephen and Cutter shot an tranquillizer dart into its side.

The animal roared and took flight in direction of the sports hall as Abby and Connor fired two more darts into its body.

After a few metres the young Baryonyx crashed down to the ground.

James Lester parked the car in front of the large house and shared a look with Jenny. A school was the worst place an Anomaly could emerge.

They could only hope there wasn't a dangerous animal on the campus and that no child had stepped through the anomaly and was now lost in the past.

Jenny Lewis adjusted her skirt and moved into the Manor House. She had to have a serious talk with the school's headmaster.

Led by the mobile Anomaly detector, the civil servant walked over the school grounds to the small pavillon on the pitch some way behind the central building and observed the actions of the teams.

Stephen Hart gave the command to guard the Anomaly near the cricket pavillon and Finn and Willis took position instantly.

The other team members started to lead the children back to the Manor and Stephen checked the sedated dinosaur's vital signs, ignoring the admiring looks the passing girls were giving him.

Jetrow had thrown a struggling child over each shoulder. They still hadn't understood the gravity of the situation and the danger they'd been in and they'd only wanted to pet the interesting animal.

The three teachers who came running helped to calm down the excited children.

Suddenly a roar was heard behind the pavillon and James Lester turned around.

A huge dinosaur with a long snout full of pointed teeth came speeding around the corner and charged at the teacher.

The team members were still busy with the children so Lester did the only thing he could think of when the animal pounced for the woman who had two scared girls on her hands.

He leapt into its path and waved his arms in an attempt to draw the beast's attention to himself.

The dinosaur stopped, irritated, and then went for Lester.

Cutter stood frozen to the spot in horror, incapable of reacting as the Baryonyx mother animal raced torwards his lover.

Then he drew the rifle to his cheek and took aim. His dart hit nearly simultaneously with Stephen's and Connor's shots and  brought down the huge animal.

Nick hadn't realised that Lester had found shelter in the small storage room for sport equipment at the pavillon. All he saw was the dinosaurs occupying the place James had stood before and he started to shiver.

When the civil servant staggered out of the room behind the fallen dinosaur, Cutter stared in disbelief before he began to move over to him as though he was in trance.

Lester was shocked to be pulled into a fiery hug and went rigid.

Nick whispered Lester's first name again and again and crushed him in his arms, his hands desperately roving over the other man's back, pressing his cheek against James' neck to feel the pulsing of the artery, showing him his mate was still alive.

Cutter knew he was behaving irrationally but he didn't care at the moment. All what counted right now was James in his arms, safe and sound.

Stephen watched the display, ready to break them up at the first sign of real discomfort from Lester. But the man just stood there, rigid and let Cutter's onslaught happen.

He didn't respond at first but when James felt hot tears against his neck, he moved his arms, slowly starting to run his fingers through Cutter's hair, mumbling soft words to calm him down.

Finally, Cutter released the other man from his tight hug and his arms sunk down at his sides, powerless and empty without his lover to hold on to.

"I'm sorry, I lost control," he whispered, ashamed and slowly walked back to the young Baryonyx. Stephen and Lester let him go, giving him some time alone to compose himself.

In the interim, Jenny Lewis had spoken with the headmaster and his representative, a friendly cooperative teacher called Thomas, and had arranged for closure of the small bridge over the River Stour leading to the cricket pitch.

30 minutes later, a vehicle to transport heavy load had been organised and the two sedated dinosaurs were taken back into the Anomaly.

Fortunately, only a small group of children had seen the dinosaurs and no one had been really hurt.

Lester was worried about the talkative children but they all were taken in by Jenny's tale about filming a dinosaurs documentary with state-of-the-art animatronics technology.

The headmaster and teachers backed this story up willingly. They couldn't afford to gain a bad reputation and wanted to get back to normal school activity so fast as possible.

An hour later, Connor, Willis and Finn reported the closing of the Anomaly and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Sir James talked with the Headmaster, Jenny, Stephen and Lyle and made sure the situation seemed to be under control before he gave the order to leave the school grounds.

Cutter still hadn't calmed down completely so Stephen escorted his friend to the car and decided to drive back himself.

Lester looked after them in concern before he followed the vans in his own car.

It was already dark outside when they arrived back at the ARC.

They were all tired but Lester still insisted on reports. He wouldn't allow sloppiness. Their work was too important and would only get financial support as long the paperwork was in the best order.

Cutter's report was short, too short to be acceptable. He would have to write it again. But currently the Professor looked like he might break down any moment and Lester just accepted the file without complaint.

Stephen stood irresolutely in the office door. He'd intended to spend the evening with Lyle but wasn't certain he could leave Nick alone in this condition.

His boss relieved him of the decision.

"Hart, it's all right. I will drive Cutter home and look after him."

Stephen nodded and hurried down to the locker room to find Lyle.

"Lester, you don't have to do that. I can drive myself."

"And you'll probably have an incident at the next corner. Cutter, do you know how much paperwork it would mean if something happened to you?"

A shadow flickered over Nick's face at the remark and he followed Lester to his car without a word.

The drive home was just as silent and Lester started to get even more worried.

The Professor's hands trembled when he tried to unlock the front door of his house and Lester took finally the key out of his hands and opened the door.

Cutter stumbled into the living room and sank down on the couch.

Meanwhile, Lester prepered a drink and handed it to him. Obviously on automatic, Nick grasped the glass and downed it at once.

"Thanks. You can go now. I'll cope from here. I'm sorry for my behaviour today. I know I broke our agreement at the school. I botched up again," he babbled.

Nick lay down on the couch with his back turned to James Lester and closed his eyes wearily.

The sound of departing steps rung in his ears and Nick Cutter sighed deeply. With the depressing thought that every time he'd gained a little hope, something bad happened and threw him back into the abyss, Nick fell asleep.

Cutter woke up to the smell of freshly made coffee and the fragile scent of James. He looked confused for a moment then raised himself up from the couch and put the crinkled shirt in his hands behind a pillow again.

"I had wondered where my favourite shirt had got to."

Nick looked, startled, at the man sitting in the armchair across from him and blushed.

"I slept in the spare room. I hope you don't mind," Lester said.

Nick shook his head faintly.

"Seems it's the place you're sleeping too, occasionally. With my shirts." James pointed out.

Cutter looked to the floor, ashamed. "It's all I have left of you," he whispered, desolately, knowing what James must think of him with all the stains and the smell of dried sperm on his clothes.

"I've prepared breakfast in the kitchen. If you don't object I will take my clothes with me. Those urgently need cleaning."

Nick fetched the shirt he'd hid under a cushion some minutes ago, put it into a plastic bag and handed it to Lester.

While Lester collected the residual shirts from the spare room, Cutter sat down at the kitchen table and smelled the aroma of breakfast and the coffee James had brewed for him.

"I'd better go now. I've a meeting with some executives today and I still have to get changed. Are you feeling better now?"

Cutter nodded. What was a lie more or less when all was lost anyway? Despite Ditzy's medication, he would go crazy soon without James nearby or at least the illusion of him through the clothes he'd worn. The shirts had helped him to get through the darkest hours.

Suddenly a soft fabric was draped around his shoulders.

"I wore it yesterday and it smells strongly of me," Lester told him. "Please try not to come all over it. Silk is difficult and would have to be dry-cleaned. I'm not keen on explaining such stains to my cleaner."

"By the way, I need a new report about yesterday's Anomaly. The short scribble you gave me earlier is hardly adequate. See you at work."

After a gentle sweep of his hand through Cutter's hair, Lester left the kitchen.

Nick Cutter pressed his cheek against the silk shirt and happily inhaled the combination of James and good coffee.

James Lester really was an absolutely extraordinary man and Nick was falling in love with him all over again.